1. Field of the Invention.
This invention relates to a method of treating a person suffering from headaches, in particular a migraine condition, with an agent that enhances the effectiveness of the human immune system to mitigate and where possible eliminate the migraine.
2. Description of Related Art.
Most headache conditions are self-medicated by the victims with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory remedies such as aspirin, acetaminophen, and ibuprofen.
Migraine is a distinctive kind of headache condition marked by much greater intensity and duration than other headaches, and also is much less likely to respond favorably to the common remedies. See, for example, xe2x80x9cHealth Journalxe2x80x9d by T. Parker-Pope, Wall Street Journal, May 5, 2000.
As is well known, the search for better remedies for migraine and other headache conditions is enormously costly. For economic reasons, moreover, the search tends to be skewed in the direction of finding novel remedies proprietary to their discoverers and owners. Novel remedies, of course, come into being with nothing known about either their safety or their effectiveness, so that both of these essential attributes need to be exhaustively studied before they can be used as intended. For a summary of how this has been accomplished in the art reference can be had to U.S. Pat. No. 5,707,967 here incorporated by reference.
In contrast, the art has tended to neglect the exploration of therapeutic properties of known substances that humans have been safely ingesting for untold generations. Along these lines, the present inventor has been able to bring about in susceptible individuals within a limited and reproducible time the appearance of headache by administering selected foods and food ingredients as trigger substances, and to use these as research tools to study the effectiveness of certain nutrient substances in relieving these artificially produced conditions as well as their natural counterparts. As a result, certain water soluble amino carboxylic acid compounds are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,707,967 as effective against headache.
Stroppolo et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,500,226 disclosed a pharmaceutical composition for oral use having analgesic activity containing a mixture of arginine and (S)-Ibuprofen in a molar ratio between 1.1 and 1.9.
In accordance with this invention, there is provided a method of treating in a person in need thereof a headache, and particularly a migraine condition,, which comprises the administration to such person of at least one aliphatic sulfur compound. The beneficial effect of administering aliphatic sulfur compound is believed to accompany an enhancement of the effectiveness of the person""s immune system.
The aliphatic sulfur compound preferably includes a sulfur-methylene moiety such as 
More preferably, the aliphatic sulfur compound also includes a carboxyl group, as in 
Still more preferably, the aliphatic sulfur compound is a sulfur-containing amino-acid derivative of an ethyl sulfide having the formula (I) 
in which A is hydrogen or a carboxymethylene xe2x80x94CH2CO2H group, B is hydrogen or an alkyl group having 1 to 3 carbon atoms, and X is hydrogen, or an acyl group xe2x80x94COxe2x80x94R in which R is an alkyl group having 1 to 3 carbon atoms, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt of such compound.
In this compound, the ethyl sulfide group 
is believed to be responsible for the beneficial activity observed while the attached groups A, xe2x80x94NHX, and xe2x80x94CO2B assist in delivering the compound to the site within the human organism where the beneficial activity is exerted.
In one preferred embodiment, A is hydrogen.
In a further preferred embodiment, A, B, and X are not simultaneously hydrogen.
Particularly suitable illustrative derivatives having the formula given above are tabulated by showing the assignments of A, B, and X in the above formula:
The present invention is based on the recognition that enhancing the effectiveness of the immune system in a person can be beneficial in augmenting the person""s innate ability to resist the initiation and intensification of migraine conditions and other headaches, as well as the uncomfortable after-effects. Consequently, the quality of life is improved.
In increasing the effectiveness of the human immune system according to this invention, mega-nutrient doses of 2 to 20 grams of a compound or compounds of formula (I) can be administered to a person experiencing or fearful of the occurrence of migraine to diminish its extent and duration. Doses can be administered in any convenient manner, as by oral administration in any of the usual dosage forms, such as tablets, capsules, solutions, and dispersions in liquid foods such as soups and fruit juices. Alternatively, there can be given sterile solutions by direct injection into the bloodstream of the person to be treated, as well as by rectal suppositories.